Summit Station, Greenland

Summit Station is the only high altitude, high latitude, inland, year‐round observing station in the Arctic. Summit Station offers immediate access to the free troposphere and is relatively free of local influences that could corrupt atmospheric observations. As such, it is ideally suited for studies aimed at identifying and understanding long‐range, intercontinental transport and its influences on the ice sheet surface, boundary layer, and overlying atmosphere. The pristine and remote location in a year‐round dry snow and ice region provides an optimal facility for energy and surface mass balance, radiation measurements, and remote sensing validation studies. Summit Station is also a prime site for astronomy and astrophysics research due to its high altitude and dry and stable atmosphere.

NSF Vision for Research Support & Logistics at Summit Station

Summit Station will become an efficient, flexible observing platform supporting seasonal campaigns for research and training as well as a variety of research fields utilizing state-of-the-art technology to enable year-round measurements made autonomously or with minimal human presence.

Background: Summit Station will remain an important polar research station contributing to an arctic network of observations and supporting cutting-edge research in a variety of disciplines by international teams, as well as providing a training platform for next generation research scientists. Observations at Summit Station contribute to a broad scientific understanding of the atmosphere and cryosphere including: tracking atmospheric pollution and Arctic-wide transport, snow chemistry, air-snow interactions, weather prediction, understanding changes in the Arctic climate system, the surface mass balance of the Greenland Ice Sheet, and the physics of snow and ice.

Scientific Vision for Summit Station, Greenland

Over the coming decades, research conducted at Summit Station will provide unique insights into Arctic-wide and global climate processes and answer transformative science questions about the role of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the global climate system. Summit will remain the only high altitude, high latitude, inland, year-round observatory in the Arctic. Summit offers immediate access to the free troposphere and is relatively free of local influences that could corrupt atmospheric observations. As such, it is ideally suited for studies aimed at identifying and understanding long-range, intercontinental transport and its influences on the ice sheet surface, boundary layer, and overlying atmosphere. The pristine and remote location in a year-round dry snow and ice region provides an optimal facility for energy and surface mass balance, radiation measurements, and remote sensing validation studies. Summit is also a prime site for astronomy and astrophysics research due to its high altitude and dry, stable atmosphere.

Proposing Research at Summit

Researchers considering fieldwork at Summit are required to contact the SCO atsco@summitcamp.orgduring the proposal stage. Researchers must also contact theCPS Science Planning Managerduring the proposal stage. CPS will distribute aRequirements Questionnaireto the researchers to determine the scope, impact, and feasibility of the project. CPS can also answer logistical questions and will provide a project cost estimate, which must be included with proposals to the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other funding agencies.

This site is administered by the Science Coordination Office for Summit Station and the Greenland Traverse (University of New Hampshire, University of California - Merced, and Dartmouth). This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under awards OPP-1637006 to the University of New Hampshire, OPP-1637209 to the University of California - Merced, and OPP-1637003 to Dartmouth College. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.